Apparatus for treating petroleum



June 5, 1956 F. MITCHELL 2,749,239

APPARATUS FOR TREATING PETROLEUM Filed June 5, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1EXHAUST PRESSURE FLUE 8 TA BIL/Z E R 20 HEAT p7- E'XCHA/VGE R565 Ac O oo o o O o o o A o r O o c o 2 BURNER INVENTORT June 5, 1956 K. F.MITCHELL 2,749,289

APPARATUS FOR TREATING PETROLEUM Filed June 5, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I kk m u n -O- Q Q m k "a EXHAUST FLUE L THIRD TOWER FIG.2

SECOND TOWER I II FIRST TOWER HEAT EXCHANGE COIL EXHAUST FLUE Q l l=% F1 United States Patent Olice APPARATUS FOR TREATING PETROLEUM Kearney F.Mitchell, Jennings, La.

Application June 5, 1953, Serial No. 359,820

1 Claim. (Cl. 196-106) 1 My invention relates to apparatus for treatingpetrd eum.

It relates particularly to treating petroleum by distillation in suchmanner that all component fractions remain undisturbed in their naturalmolecular arrangements and composition, and with a separation of theproducts contained in the petroleum into yields of any desired specificgravity.

A prime object of this invention is to effect distillation to anydesired range without subjecting any desired gravity to any more heatthan the amount of heat required to vaporize any and all gravities ofthe different cuts obtained, thereby eliminating any vapors that areformed when oil is subjected to a greater amount of temperature than isrequired to vaporize each successive gravity as it is separated, therebykeeping recovery yields to a maximum. The treatment of any oil either bydistillation or cracking may be effectually practiced by this invention.

Another object is to provide economy in operation by the use of severalheat exchanges. The total charge of petroleum or cracking stock as it isprocessed in this invention does not have to be subjected to any moreheat than is required to vaporize each of the different gravities orcuts, thereby keeping operating fuel consumption to a minimum.

The said objects I have accomplished by the means now to be described indetail and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope ofwhat is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The novel features which I believe to be characteristic of thisinvention are set forth with particularity in the appended claim. Theinvention itself, however, both as to organization and operation,together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be bestunderstood from the following description of a specific embodiment whenread in connection with the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. 1 is a view partly in section of the left portion of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view on a reduced scale of the entireapparatus.

Referring to the drawing, a pipe 4 is connected for delivering oil intothe bottom of a tank 5 in which it rises around a heat exchange coil 5.From the top of the tank 5, the oil passes through a pipe 6 and into thebottom of a tank 7 where it rises around three heat exchanger coilswhich will be referred to later. From the top of the tank 7, the oilpasses through a pipe 8 into the bottom of a distillation tower 9 andrises to about the level L around a cone shaped member 10 of a stackwhich has an exhaust flue 11. The member 10 is attached to the peripheryof the bottom of the tower 9. During the passage of oil upwardly in thetower 9, it is subjected to heat generated inside of the member 10 thebottom of which contains a burner 12 supplied with combustible fuelthrough a pipe 13 controlled by a valve 14. Passages 14 supply outside 2air to the burner 12. Vapors pass out from the top of the tower 9through a pipe 15 which contains a pressure regulator 16 and then passout through the heat exchanger coil 5 which is inside the tank 5.

A stabilizer receptacle 18 is placed around the intermediate portion ofthe stack. From the receptacle 18, oil passes out through a pipe 19.This pipe leads from the receptacle 18 between the top and bottomthereof. A control device 20 for maintaining the level L is connectedwith the pipe 19 through a control valve 21. The upper end of thecontrol device 20 is connected with the tower 9 by a pipe 22. A sightglass 23 is connected to the control device 20.

The pipe 19 as shown in Fig. 2 is connected to the bottom of a chamber24 which encloses a heat exchanger. After rising around this heatexchanger, the oil goes through a pipe 25 into thebottom of a secondtower 26 which is equipped like the first tower 9. From the tower 26 apipe 27 leads into the bottom of a chamber 28 which is like the chamber24. From the upper end of the chamber 28, a pipe 29 leads into thebottom of a third tower 30. which is like the towers 9 and, 26. From thetower 30, a pipe 31 leads into the bottom of a chamber 32 which is likethe chambers 24 and 28. From the chamber 32, a pipe 53 leads into thebottom of a fourth tower 34 which is like the other towers except thatit is provided with an outlet 35. From the top of the tower 34, a pipe36 leads into the top of a heat exchanger coil in the chamber 32. Thelower end of this coil is connected to a pipe 37 which leads into thebottom of a heat exchanger coil 38 in the tank 7 as shown in Fig. 1 andhas an upper outlet end. From the top of the tower 30, a pipe 39 leadsinto the top of a heat exchanger coil in the chamber 28. The lower endof this coil is connected to a pipe 40 which leads into the bottom of aheat exchanger coil 41 in the tank 7 and has an upper outlet end. Fromthe top of the tower 16, a pipe 42 leads into the top of a heatexchanger coil in the chamber 24. The lower end of this coil isconnected to a pipe 43 which leads into the bottom of a heat exchangercoil 44 in the tank 7 and has an upper outlet end.

The operation and advantages of this invention will be apparent inconnection with the foregoing description and the accompanying drawingand to a certain extent have already been stated. The gases ofcombustion pass out through the stacks or flues 11 of the towers. Oil isadmitted to the apparatus by the supply pipe 4 in any suitable mannersuch as by a charge pump. The oil first passes upwardly in the tank 5around the heat exchanger coil 5 which consists of a single coilextending spirally downward. The oil traveling upwardly is partlypreheated in the tank 5 by the coil 5' which takes the hot vapors fromthe top of the first tower 9 delivered through the pipe 15. The oil thenpasses from the top of the tank 5 through the pipe 6 which is connectedto the bottom of the tank 7 and rises around the three coils 38, 41 and44. The oil then passes through the pipe 8 into the bottom of the tower9, having been previously heated by passing around heat exchanger coils.Oil entering the tower 9 is further heated by means of the burner 12 towhatever temperature is necessary to vaporize whatever part of the oilis desired as being the light ends or first cut of the oil extracted.These vapors then pass from the top of the tower 9 into the pipe 15which has a pressure regulator 16, and then travel through the coil 5'.The lowest heat is first employed in acting on the oil. The resultingproducts therefrom are led off through the pipe 19 after having passedthe level regulator 20'.

Each tower has a stabilizer receptacle 18 attached outside the stack 11near the upper portion of the tapered member 10, the upper end of thereceptacle being below the oil level L in the tower. The oil thus heatedhas a Patented June 5, 1956,

tendency to rise and upon reaching the upper open end of the stabilizer18 falls into it and flows from the tower through the pipe 19 which isconnected to the side of the stabilizer. As the oil travels from onetower to another, vaporization is efifected. Since the heat increases ineach tower, it is apparent that the quantity of oil decreases from onetower to another until total vaporization is effected. Since in eachtower a different product is obtained by the increase of temperature,any desired amount of products may be extracted by increasing ordecreasing the number of towers which are in operation. The pressure insuccessive towers has been found to be five to ten pounds less than thepressure in the preceding tower.

I claim:

Apparatus for treating petroleum consisting of a series of distillationtowers, a stack attached to the bottom of each of said towers andextending up through the center thereof, a burner in the bottom of eachstack, a tank, a heat exchanger coil in said tank, a pipe for deliveringoil into the bottom of said tank around said coil, a pipe connecting thetop of the first tower with the top of said coil, a second tank, severalheat exchanger coils in said second tank, a pipe connecting the top ofthe first tank to the bottom of said second tank in which oil risesaround said heat exchanger coils, a pipe connecting the top of saidsecond tank with the bottom of the first tower, a stabilizer receptaclearound an intermediate portion of each of said stacks, chamberspositioned in succession between said distillation towers, a heatexchanger coil in each of said chambers, pipes in succession connectingthe stabilizer receptacles with the bottoms of said chambers, pipes insuccession connecting the tops of said distillation towers with the topsof the coils in said chambers, pipes in succession connecting thebottoms of said coils individually with the bottoms of the several coilsin the second tank, and means for maintaining the level of oil in saidtowers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

